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Welcome to Austria, the Heart of Europe

It’s a great honour and pleasure to host this 26th ICOLD Congress and 86th Annual Meeting here in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Since 1991, when the last ICOLD Congress took place in Vienna, the economic situation in the field of dam construction as well as the environmental background had changed significantly. Besides the liberalization of the European Electricity Market the increasing use of wind and solar energy led to a fundamentally different management of our hydro power reservoirs. The flexibility of hydro power technique gives the possibility to compensate and equilibrate the large electricity load peaks in the European Power Grid. With the increasing but heavily oscillating energy production out of renewable, alternative energy the storage and compensation by hydro power energy with its quick stand-by duty gets more and more importance. Austria tried in the last 10 years to play a major role in this market slot, some plants with very high capacity had been built like Kops II and Obervermuntwerk II of the Vorarlberger Illwerke or Limberg II of Verbund Hydro Power.

Since the ICOLD Conference 1991 a significant new type of water use for supporting winter tourism has developed due to winter seasons with lack of snow and the increasing necessity of reservoirs for artificial snow production.

To ensure also for these high hazard reservoirs the high Austrian Dam Safety Standard was the challenging task during the last 2 decades.

Increasing extreme precipitation events and floods in Austria within the last 10 years, with high probability a result of climate change, showed us that there is an increasing necessity of flood mitigation measures. For the only heightening of existing levees does not meet that

task the only possibility for protecting areas with high damage potential is to build large retention reservoirs not only at favourable sits in narrow valleys but also in large river systems.

Concerning the worldwide importance of dams and reservoirs for storage of drinking water or water for irrigation we are very lucky in Austria. We can provide almost for the entire population fresh drinking water out of natural springs, only a little part is supplied by means of groundwater from river basins by only less treatment measures needed.

Summarizing all the different uses of dams I can conclude that we are very proud of the high standard of dam safety in Austria based on a multilevel principal with well-educated and qualified engineers and few guidelines to ensure a homogenous safety level throughout the country. It should be a main task for our government to accept the responsibility for providing the fundamentals for the operability of dam safety system in Austria also in the future.

I would like to thank and congratulate all the engineers and specialists involved in dam construction, maintenance and dam operation for their commitment in dam safety and sustainable use of our most valuable water-resources. I wish you all an interesting meeting here in Vienna, I am sure that you will find a platform for fruitful exchange of experience, for knowledge transfer to the Young Engineers, useful networking and I hope that all participants can take along some unforgettable impressions.

Elisabeth Köstinger,Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism

Dear ICOLD Members, dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of ICOLD I’m delighted to invite delegates from the National Committees of the International Commission of Large Dams (ICOLD) and specialists and experts working in the field of dams and reservoirs as well as their accompanying persons to the 86th Annual Meeting and 26th World Congress in Vienna, Austria, which will take place from 1 – 7 July in 2018.

27 years after organizing the very successful 17th ICOLD Congress in Vienna in 1991, I’m grateful that Austrian National Committee on Large Dams - ATCOLD took again the challenge to organize this year an important ICOLD event. Austria is among the most important hydropower producer in the Alps with high storage capacity. Until today 171 large dams have been put in operation with 4 dams higher than 150 m. Austria has developed and is still developing his hydropower resources in an exemplarily and sustainable way. The valleys of most of the dams have become touristic attractions in winter as well as in summer.

The delegates of the 86th Annual Meeting will have the chance to participate on July 2 to 3 to the ATCOLD Symposium “Hydro Engineering”. Furthermore, current issues will be addressed in several special workshops including the workshops of the ICOLD technical committees. During the 26th World Congress from July 4 to July 6 four important questions will be discussed treating the topics of Reservoir Sedimentation and Sustainable Development (Q100), Safety and Risk Analysis (Q101),

Geology and Dams (Q102) as well as Small Dams and Levees (Q103). The outcomes of the ICOLD 86th Annual Meeting and 26th World Congress will without doubt contribute again significantly to our governing long-term mission which is “Better dams for a better world”.

In view of our challenge to further develop this century’s dams and reservoirs worldwide, which will be also urgently required to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, I encourage you to come to the 86th Annual Meeting and 26th World Congress in July 2018, not only for discussing the emerging professional and socio-economic issues and but also to meet the ICOLD family. As ICOLD president I’m convinced that ATCOLD will ensure a high quality technical content for the meeting and an attractive social and accompanying person’s programme in the worldwide known cultural heritage city of Vienna, the beautiful and historical capital of Austria. Besides excellent technological examples of dams and hydropower plants, the delegates will also have the possibility to discover several impressive touristic sites with historical and cultural heritage during the study tours.

I’m looking forward to welcome the ICOLD family, old members or newcomers, in Vienna!

Prof. Dr. Anton J. Schleiss,President of International Commission on Large Dams ICOLD

ICOLD 2018 - Coming to Austria

On behalf of the Austrian National Committee on Large Dams, it is my great honour to invite you to the 26th ICOLD World Congress in combination with the 86th ICOLD Annual Meeting and the ATCOLD Symposium Hydro Engineering, to be held in Vienna, Austria. We will provide for our Technical Committees the opportunity for detailed technical discussions. Technical Committee Workshops will allow to gain an overview and insight about Working Group achievements. Additionally, the Hydro Engineering Symposium will pave the way for presentations and discussions of specific issues of hydraulic structures serving for energy from renewable resources, irrigation, drinking water supply and flood protection.

The conference program will include very interesting study tours to high-head pumped storage plants, runof-river plants and excellent examples of Austrian dams at high elevation in the Alps.

The cultural program for participants and accompanying persons will comprise musical performances and excursions to some of Austria’s most impressive sites. Participants in 2018’s ICOLD World Congress can take advantage of the event’s special location and enjoy Austria’s renowned hospitality, cultural heritage and landscape.

Vienna is a pleasant and safe city with out-standing conference facilities as well as comfortable international travel connections and a well-developed local transportation network. A great number of national institutions, the dam owners and the members of ATCOLD are eager to contribute to ICOLD, supporting the Congress in Vienna.

Together our aim is a productive coming together for our community based on hospitality and friendship.